Botany Bay (land Based) 04/05/06/my 1st Report

[Lunker_Hunter]

Hi, thought I’d participate & write my first fishing report, since I like reading them. So here is my two cents:

Looked out the window around noon after scuffing down a scrumptious pie & sipping some OJ & there was nothing but blue sky & hardly any wind about which I thought was great since it’s been windy here for the past several days.

Loaded the coupe up, then off I went. Got there in next to no time, don’t know if my perception of time was a lil’ altered by me singing along to cheesy 80’s tunes on the radio all the way… just felt shorter than usual.

Parked near the airport area & walked up to the location, I know there & was like, “Dear Lordy! It’s a workday, why are all these people here?” So there shot in the butt was my Expectation of getting a good spot.

So away went my medium fishing outfit which I was planning to use on the salmon’s & lil’ tuna’s that I heard have been running buck-wild around there. I didn’t want to congest the place up anymore with lines & stuck to my light spin rod for this day.

Wetted line at 2ish after I squeezed between two anglers (the only spot available were we all won’t close enough to form a scrum base & hook the fish with our boots) who looked like they could do with a pillow & sleeping bag… made me wonder how hot the action was.

There were these big birds that were flying around low to the ground & diving in for a feed just as I seen 2 lil’ tuna’s dash right by me as I %%%%%ed my thumb with the fishing hook accidentally & now have a sore & bloody thumb, birds diving at my bait & had left the outfit I wish I was using instead for the tuna’s that went by.

I was just happy to be fishing, so wiped the blood off on the rock, spent a bit of time talking to some other anglers that were walking by & stopped for a chat that went on for 20 minutes which turned out well, since one of the other anglers there was leaving & that allowed me to move to that spot as I had not set up properly yet & now with the birds gone, it was time to get back & get stuck right into it again.

So at the new spot that I wanted to start at in the first place, I flicked my first bait out & 5 minutes later landed my first trevally that was around 30ish-cms, which delighted me, not by the fact that I caught something but the lil’ bugger gave it to my 4lb light spin gear which made it a real hoot to land (priceless).

Flicked bait out again & it was instantly smashed by my PB trevally that was close to 40cms. This went on for the next hour & the other anglers around me that barely caught a thing where all looking at me & some started coming over & talking to me, checking out my rig etc.

I must’ve caught close to 10 or more fish & I was surprised, myself actually & felt kind of embarrassed since I felt bad for the others, the guy next to me had caught a pretty decent size one himself which made things better for me.

So I had a lil’ audience now around & I didn’t want to be rude so talked to them & asked if any were on fishing forum sites etc. incase it’s one of you guys. Showed them what I was using & this rig I made up for trevally that works really well. Gave them some bait too.

Every dog has it’s day & today was mine & though these fish weren’t the big pelagic species it still left a lot of people there in amazement, I guess because I was catching them so consistently on a day where not many others found success.

Thought I caught enough for the day & felt really bad by now, so went home. I ended up keeping the 6 biggest trevally which were all over 30cms, 2 breams & a 40cm-ish slimey which I don’t know if that was legal but I kept it as bait, since one of the Anglers there I was talking to told me how the bluefin tuna’s where up & about in the coast, which I hope I can catch one this weekend.

Hope you all have good times fishing, even if you don’t catch anything. Sometimes fishing isn’t about fishing.

P.S. What’s the best bait & rig for Bluefin Tuna?

[Guest crow]

Nice report mate, & feed to boot!

[kantong]

gday Lunker

nice catch! i think i know where that is. If I know that place correctly, i fish there a bit, might bump into you one day!

Cheers,

Kevin

[Sharky]

Nice report Lunker good to hear you are getting into a few fish there mate awsome stuff

[wrasseman]

nice report and fishies, those silvers are great fish, heaps of fun to catch. Any chance of sharing your rig with us??

cheers

col.

[Lunker_Hunter]

Thanks for the comments.

This is the rig I use that works really well on trevally & I have caught several other species on it too, though it is my trevally rig.

I use a 2 hook rig with a trace of 70cm (this length is perfect for them) & this hook: Mustad Beak Size 2 Ref: 92604NPBLN

I caught those trevs using really old pilchards I brought along to use as burley for the tunas & just to get rid of them before they grew fluff or something.

Salt the pilchards, that makes them tougher so they stay on the hook better & dice them in small bits just enough to fit on the hook, this will increase your hook up rate.

The technique I use when I know they are in the area is, I would reel the bait in as if it was a lure but slower than I would a lure. That's how I was catching so many, I find that when you do this, it covers ground when they take the bait & since it's a nice small size they swallow it & since the rig is in motion it hooks into them right away thanks to that pattern & size of the hook.

Around 3pm to sunset is a great time to target them around the bay.

Edited May 5, 2006 by Lunker_Hunter

[wrasseman]

Thanks for that. Have you tried luring them?

[Penguin]

Nice report mate,

good feed to.

penguin.

[Flattieman]

Nice report mate,

good feed to.

penguin.

Well done, LH. There seems to be plenty of such fish around the Airport lately.

Flattieman.

[Lunker_Hunter]

Thanks for that. Have you tried luring them?

Hi Wrasseman

I never tried lures at Botany, was my first time back there this year, however the anglers I was talking with said they use spoons & have been catching big tailors & those small frigate tunas there with them.

2 other anglers I was chatting with & asking them about SPs said they used the 3" gulp grubs & all that would happen was they were losing the bait but no hookups & with the 3" bass minnows they were catching some flatheads with them there.

One of them was flicking SPs when I was catching alot of fish into the spot I was casting my bait & he didn't catch anything, he was using a small white squidgy with a yellow tail on it & then a killer tomoto one.

I lure fish alot & when I go to spots where people are going really well on bait, I would resort to bait myself. To me if it works really well at a certain spot, then use it.

I knew pilchards work really well on the trevallys there, since the last time I fished the place I was catching mostly small snapper & this one guy next to me caught a few trevs on pilchards, so since I had lots of pilchards I thought I would target the trevs.

One thing for sure, they are a real hoot to catch on light gear, I think they put up more of a fight than good size tailor & bream on light gear. They were really going for it, dashing into rocks, changing lines, the works.

Thanks for the comments guys, hope you all have been having fun fishing!

Edited May 6, 2006 by Lunker_Hunter